iPhone 5s No Longer Available For In-Store Pickup Through Apple Online Store

Apple made the iPhone 5s available for in-store pickup on Monday, allowing customers to order their new device online, then collect it from their local Apple retail store later the same day. But just a day later, the option has already been pulled — probably due to the incredible demand Apple seen for the device since it launched last Friday.

With customers having to wait until October for iPhone 5s orders to ship via the Apple online store, in-store pickup was the quickest way to obtain a device, and the easiest way to ensure that your local Apple store would have a unit waiting for you when you went in to purchase one. Now that’s no longer the case.

Cult of Mac reader Nicholas Berry has emailed us to let us know that the in-store pickup option is now longer available through the Apple online store for any of the iPhone 5s variants. “I just tried to check my local Apple Store again this morning and the website says ‘Not Eligible. In Store Purchase Only’,” he writes.

The news has also been reported by lots of people throughout the U.S. on Twitter this morning.

It’s unclear at this point why Apple has disabled this service after just one day, but given the incredible demand the Cupertino company has seen for the iPhone 5s since it launched last week, it could be that current stock levels are simply too low to continue offering the in-store pickup option.

Apple announced on Monday that iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c sales topped 9 million on opening weekend, making it Apple’s most successful iPhone launch ever. While there has been plenty of interest in the iPhone 5c, it seems as though most of the demand so far has been for the high-end iPhone 5s, which features a 64-bit A7 processor, an improved camera with dual-LED flash, and of course, Touch ID.